1969 Slickback

[gdrill]

Initial overview looks good.
Wheel houses are solid. Needs trunk extensions, which I have. Needs a driver side grill surround. Needs fender repair. Driver is savable. Passenger will be much more work.

 

[gdrill]

In the engine bay, somebody was trying to repair an inner fender. I will change the whole thing. The top of the pass fender is rough but the driver is perfect. Now I have to go unload the interior and see the condition of the base. Generally it's looking pretty good.

 

[4spdragtop]

I see ac stuff! That looks good and solid so far George!

 

[gdrill]

Well it is surprisingly solid. I think the fact that it is dull yellow really makes the car look worse than it is. The floor pans are good. One small repair in the pass rear footwell and the Rockauto pans have already been installed in the front. It's not fully complete as I was told, but the majority is there. Probably the biggest missing part is the rear seat. A lot of stuff was bagged and tagged. The wiring looks rough. We'll see.

 

[gdrill]

Passenger floor.

 

[gdrill]

Well as you can see this is now in restorations. It will be far from that but it will be an ongoing project. As I have so many on the go and I am the kind that hates passing up a deal, let alone resurrecting a car, this will be one that I do all the big rust repairs and then pass it on to someone else. You can't keep them all! So anyway today I was looking at the pieces the previous owner had cut for the inner fenders. I decided that they were 1967 parts and my other set I have are 1972. I figured I may as well use the donor patches for this one. I also installed the rear window regulator that was out........wow........that was a pain!

So, here goes the beginning of saving a 1969 Barracuda Slickback.

 

[gdrill]

OK, a quick run around the car to show the main rust. Pretty basic stuff. All typical. Surprisingly the trunk extensions don't look too bad. I will see if they can remain. If not, I have a set here. The driver inner rocker will need work, but I cleaned out the passenger side from inside the rear window and it is good. Wheel houses need work at the edges but in the trunk area they are fine.

 

[H22A4]

Wow, you’re not wasting anytime! Great progress!
What are the stories on the ‘69 Plymouth B body and Dodge E body (??) in the background of a few pictures?

 

[gdrill]

LOL, thank you. You are observant! The 69 is my Rallye green road runner. Number match 383 4 spd and the Challenger is a Hemi orange 71 RT that I found in total abandonment and stripped completely. I even managed to locate the original engine for 20 +/- years after it was parted out!

 

[Dartnut]

Looks better already, George!
After my visit last night to look at the car and parts etc. i thought about it for awhile and it's definitely a good solid builder with good bones and i will say that it's well worth saving.
It also made me think about the one i have, this car and mine were only built 9 days apart (scheduled production date) which is pretty cool.
They might have even been sold at the same dealership for all we know..........
This is the best part of the hobby, the research and fixing up of cars that most people would look over because it's rough.
Cudos to you for giving this one another lease on life instead of parting it out!
Looking forward to the progress, and donating some parts to the build..........

 

[gdrill]

Today I got the driver side in. I'm going to dig into the fenders and see if I can save them, since we all know how hard they are to come by. I think I can mix and match parts and make a decent set.

 

[gdrill]

This is / was the worst fender. 3 hours of tinkering and I'd say it's a fairly good fender now!

 

[gdrill]

And a bit better yet. It was smashed in and of course filled with bondo. I removed the light mount and pounded it out. The nut inserts were mostly missing so I built my own to replace them. It's OK for now.

 

[swedefish]

Great job, thanks for saving this one!

 

[gdrill]

The pass fender is done until I get the lower leg patches. I repaired the inner support with a piece off of the same fender I got the mount from. Fortunately Ma Mopar used the same basic parts and design for many years with only subtle changes.

 

[gdrill]

The driver is another animal all together. It has the same damage up front more or less but the mounting plate is basically OK.

 

[gdrill]

Well, I'm happy that both fenders were savable. These damn Barracuda fenders are just so hard to find in good shape and then they cost an arm and a leg. This is a real bonus to the car. They obviously both need a skim coat of putty to be nice, but they are quite straight overall. Actually the whole car is quite straight. There are no other dents other than these fenders, which is fully expected when people "drive by feel"!

 

[gdrill]

Well I was going to tackle the frame rails today, but I found out my set I had here have rust in the area by the upper control arms. Damn. Oh well, I have access to another set off a 67 but it will be a bit before I get them. So onto smaller and more tedious repairs.

 

[gdrill]

I have not decided whether I am going to use the full Goodmark quarter or just cut what I need out of it. Regardless I need to build an inner wheelhouse. So this is how I am doing it. I had a piece of steal with a 90 degree edge so I cut it down to about a 1/2" strip and am using it to form the edge.

 

[SNKEBIT]

Spend the 100 bucks on the shrinker/stretcher from Eastwood or similar place. Waaayyyyy easier than doing the cut weld thing. Been there, done that. lol

 

[gdrill]

Ya, I know, but at the moment I gotta use what I got! But I will pick one up someday. Here is a little more of the wheelhouse. I tacked my edge onto the original rusty steal so it would be in the correct spot. Now I'm filling it in with sections so it remains true. Kinda painful, but it will fit well when I'm done. The inner wheelhouse sure is nice under all the undercoating. Looks just like new in there, the damage was all on the outside edge. The passenger side is way better yet.

 

[gdrill]

And that there is the hardest part done. Some people probably think I'm crazy, but I actually love fabbing this stuff up. A small patch on the trunk extension and the inner rocker tomorrow, and I'll be test fitting the quarter. The rest of the rust repair is much easier from here on. I'm glad this is sealed up now. Oh ya, I found the build sheet! Or whats left of it anyway. This is the first time I have ever seen one in the headliner, heard of it though.

 

[gdrill]

I cleaned up the inner rocker and decided to change the trunk drop off. I had to make it because the set I have are Dart style. Nonetheless it's way better than it was. I also made a new cut along the body where I want to section the quarter patch in. The Goodmark panel is made to slip over existing parts and I don't want to do that. I am going to cut it and use it as a patch.

 

[gdrill]

I've decided to use the majority of the panel. I cut it right on the upper body line and will attach it about an inch below that. Now just for an example of how different the replacement panels actually are, I took some pics for you. As I said, I cut it right on the body line. Now when it is on the car, in position with the fuel door and marker light, it is about a half inch below the factory line. Most would never see this but when you do things like this it is apparent. All this aside, it looks like it will fit just fine.

 

[gdrill]

The point of no return! Now I'm going to do the cut through and weld as you go thing.